Life is good

The last few weeks have flown by and have been some of the most wonderful of my year. The three day RockyGrass Festival was, as always, a fulfilling and exciting experience. This year I did some video interviews for Planet Bluegrass and lucked out in interviewing the charming Sarah Jarosz, the talkative and knowledgeable Darrel Anger (who played my mando in the river last year), Sandy Munro, who has been teaching at the RockyGrass Academy since its inception, and a couple folks from Bearfoot bluegrass band. I really enjoyed the interviewing process and am looking forward to helping the videographer edit them for publication. 

The festival and evening activities were also wonderful. I spent time with the luthiers again. They amaze me with their kindness and with the family environment they create at the PB campgrounds. I also connected with all sorts of interesting people--Charissa and Archie (with whom I built my mando last year). Charissa and her family own the vineyard Chappellet, and this extraordinary and kind couple do a lot of good for the world through their philanthropic endeavors (and through their wonderful gift to me of two bottles of wine :). I also met and discovered the music of the beautiful and oft-smiling Ellis, a folk musician who plays music and teaches at Folks Fest/Song School and who built a mando at this year's Academy. I look forward to seeing her perform in a few weeks. 

The week after RockyGrass I really pushed hard to further develop my plan for a curbside recycling and compost business in Lyons. Things are going well. I expect to start picking up recycling next week or the following week and compost possibly in September. 

As well, Madaleine and I got to see Osage County at the Denver Center of Performing Arts (after enjoying one of the bottles of Chappellett and a fine dinner of mostly raw food). This moving and very sad drama depicts a wholly dysfunctional family who comes together after the death of its patriarch. Though there are light moments, the mostly depressing story centers around the drug-addicted and nasty matriarch, her attacks on her three daughters, her manipulative behavior toward them, and their eventual but very difficult and different escapes from her reality. It also addresses incestuous relationships, child molestation, suicide, divorce, and pretty much anything and everything unpleasant you can imagine happening to a family. Four-letter words punctuate the story, and by the end the bad taste in your mouth is a mark of the believability of the actors. The play is very well done. I highly recommend it, as long as you are in a good mood.

Finally, my family came to town, and I've been lucky to spend the last few days with both my brothers and my cousin, Maya. And tonight I will be doing a presentation for Girls Education International at the Boulder Adventure Film Fest's First Monday showing of "Sliding Liberia," a film about surfing in Liberia and that country's 14-year war.

ciao!